Stanislaus school districts overspending

Stanislaus County school districts are spending more than they take in this year, and four districts are projected to run out of money within the next two years.

"Every district, every district is deficit spending in our county," said Don Gatti, assistant superintendent business services for the Stanislaus County Office of Education. Gatti's department oversees school district budgets.

"In the current year, we believe they're fine," Gatti said Friday. But reserve levels are going down, county office documents show, and without a budget from the state all numbers are, at best, educated guesses.

Salida Union, which was the most troubled budget last year, is "on track" with its fiscal recovery plan going forward, Gatti said.

The four districts likely to deplete their reserves in the next two years are Oakdale Unified, Riverbank Unified, Waterford Unified and Stanislaus Union.

Of those, Stanislaus Union, which has only elementary and middle schools, is digging the deepest hole. Next year, by its own budget projections, it will spend 15 percent more than it can afford. It's on a path to run out of money by February in 2012-13.

Stanislaus Union Business Manager Sandy Putnam said the district's biggest problem is declining enrollment. The count starting this year is 12 less than last, she said. The district had about 3,000 students last year.

Putnam said teachers accepted early retirements, one-time cuts, furlough days and class-size increases for this year, and she's hoping extra federal money will help out next year. But "just that money alone would not be enough" to keep the district solvent, she added.

That will take more cuts, which the district ironed out last year using a committee that included unions, parents and community members.

"We have to start the steps all over again," Putnam said.

That's because Stanislaus Union and Oakdale Unified used one-year salary cuts to balance their budgets. Next year, those salaries are expected to rise to their previous level, which would require another round of negotiations to pare spending.

"Right now we're in deficit spending. We need to right the ship," said Oakdale Superintendent Fred Rich. "We have to get projected income in line with projected expenses."

Enrollment in the district has slipped over time, but is basically stable, said Tim Hern, Oakdale's head of business services.

Projections of higher salaries will cause the district to run out of money around the last days of the 2012-13 year. District salaries were cut 1.5 percent for two years, and 2.5 percent for this year — each time jumping back to the 2007-2008 level for negotiations, Rich said.

"We have one-time cuts when they're in fact ongoing, and we need to get an ongoing commitment" to salary cuts, Rich said. "Our unions have worked with us. They know this economy's not getting any better," he added.

Declining enrollment has again hit Waterford Unified hard, Superintendent Don Davis said. The district has 1,803 students this year, 88 children down from last year, he said.

The number of foreclosures in town and migrant parents unable to find work have been "a double hit," Davis said.

Waterford has no contract with its teachers to date and negotiations have gone to mediation, Davis said. Administrators and classified personnel took a 3 percent cut for the year.

"We've got about a $1.2 million problem, that's the deficit spending, for this year," Davis said. He believes a higher-than-expected carryover for next year and jobs bill funding will help.